Waking Up in… Unova?
by Pokepika's Haunt
Summary: Ash wakes up in Unova, finds out he's been turned into an eevee, and meets a strange boy who says he's going to be king. Exactly in that order. Just another Tuesday for our intrepid hero Crossposted from Ao3
1. If I Could Live Again…

**Ash sleeps.**

He burns and burns, until he starts to resemble his namesake.

And then Ash sleeps.

Sleeps and sleeps, and then sleeps some more.

 _And then he wakes up._

 **WARNING! I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

 _ **If I Could Live Again…**_

* * *

Ash wakes up in a tizzy.

It's not abnormal per say. It's not even something new or unique. Nightmares happen, sometimes and even small children experience them. Just because Ash gets them with slightly more frequency than others, or that more often than not they leave him shaking in a cold sweat and strangling his screams before they can wake up his friends, doesn't mean anything

Really, it doesn't.

"Shit…" Ash swears, and tries to glare his still shaking hands into stillness through the dark. It doesn't work ―it never does, just like his many failed attempts at keeping Pikachu or even Brock ignorant to the bad dreams. But he has to try.

That's all he's ever been able to do is try.

 _Fireburningscreaming_ _ **HELP**_

" **No!"**

Maybe it _is_ a problem, but he won't allow it to dog him even when he's awake. No matter how real it all felt, it was still just a dream.

* * *

"Prof. Juniper! The eevee's awake!" Ash startles from a half-doze he hadn't even realized he'd fallen into, almost immediately blinded by searing lights after Arceus only knows how long he spent in the darkness.

He tries to level a reproaching glare at the speaker ―eevee or no, that is no reason to be yelling so loudly when people are trying to sleep.

He's about to grumble something about peace and quiet and small noisy children ―if only Misty were here, she'd die of laughter. But then he feels hands wrapping around his middle, not quite squeezing and far larger than he thinks they should be. And then suddenly he's not on the ground anymore.

"Ellis! Put that poor thing down!" yet another voice barks. Whoever is holding him flinches, a chin coming to rest on his head and…

Something is off. Ash knows he's short for his age, has _always_ been tiny compared to the other kids. It made his mother nervous those first few years, but he'd proven her worries misplaced around the tenth time he'd come home covered in so much dirt and mud she'd almost mistaken him for a new species of pokémon.

He's short, but he's not so lightweighted that someone can just… _pick him up_ and carry him around like a little kid's toy.

"I'm sorry," the child holding him says, and their grip tightens just enough that Ash yips when a flare of pain shoots up his side. "Ah!"

"Oh, give him here." the other voice sighs, sounding fond and exasperated all in one breathe.

Ash finds himself suddenly in an entirely different set of hands, more sure and gentle as they prod along his rib cage and run along his back. There's a brief moment of pain when it presses into a particularly sore spot, but it's over so quickly he doesn't even have time to really register it.

"No blood, so none of the wounds have reopened," the voice says, sounding relieved even as they adjust their grip.

The voice sounds feminine enough that he's almost entirely certain that whoever is currently holding him is a woman. And while he doesn't know who she is, she does sound like she knows what she's talking about. Ash is… curious, but he's also too terrified to open his eyes and confirm his suspicions.

"Prof. Juniper!" the child from earlier calls, and they _are_ a child ― no older than seven judging by the timber and pitch of their voice. "Eevee's gonna be okay, right?"

Ash can't help but to flinch at that question; he's _not_ an eevee, he's a human. He's a human with a mother who's probably worried sick about him and a group of friends who are going to _strangle_ him the next time he sees them. He's going to become a pokémon master with Pikachu and the others someday. He can't be a…

" _Vui!"_

"Hm? What's the matter, Little Guy?"

For a brief, terrifying moment, there's a disconnect.

"Eevee?"

"Ellis, some space, please. He's probably spooked."

"But…"

"It's alright, Little Guy. You're safe. Ellis doesn't mean any harm, I promise."

"Y-yeah!"

"See, she's fine, you're fine," — _nottruenottruelielie_ _ **lie**_ — "everything's fine!"

 _ **LIE**_

" **LET GO!"**

"Ah! ―Eevee, wait!"

"Oh no! Catch him, quick!"

 _Getawayrundon't—_

" _ **DON'T TOUCH ME!"**_

"WOAH!"

* * *

A/N. In celebration of Let's Go, Eevee™ and Let's go, Pikachu™.


	2. Not a Man, Just a Mannequin

_**Not a Man, Just a Mannequin**_

* * *

The sound of a window grating against its own frame isn't an _unfamiliar_ one. And for that, Ash can thank Team Rocket and Team Rocket alone.

It means he's wide awake in his newfound cage when the shadow comes creeping across the chaotic remnants of Ash's little fit ―not at all as sneaky or nearly as quiet as they seem to think they are. And by the gods, are they _trying_.

Ash can't see much from where he's been set up. There's an IV drip attached to one paw because he refused to eat, and he's more or less bolted in place as a direct result of his earlier… tantrum. But it's difficult to miss the shock of meadow green hair as whoever the intruder is stubs a toe on the nearest table and nearly sprawls themselves across the floor in shock and pain. Somehow, they don't immediately give away their location by swearing themselves blue for all in the nearby vicinity to hear, but it's a very close thing.

Instead, they pick themselves up, shoving the metal table further away in some vain hope to prevent a repeat later on. Ash doesn't like thieves, and the intruder certainly isn't earning any brownie points the longer they meander around, but he'll give credit where credit is due.

They _are_ determined.

Not that that says a whole lot when it comes to thieves.

" _N, I don't think this is a good idea!"_ a voice whispers from somewhere in the dark, urgent and utterly terrified. Ash knows exactly how it feels, considering his own difficulties coming to grips with what is happening in his life right now.

It won't stop him from giving the two away if they try to do something he doesn't like.

"You worry too much, Zorua." the other voice soothes. _Definitely a guy_ , though Ash thinks he could be forgiven for assuming they were a girl with all that hair. "Now where is…"

The intruder turns around then, clearly looking for something. And Ash, idiotic, suicidal Ash, gets a good long look at his face,

And N looks _young_. Not much older than Dawn or May when they first started their respective journeys in fact. The thought alone makes something in Ash twist and ache, and Misty had always warned Ash about acting without thinking first but…

Age doesn't negate the fact a crime has been committed, and while the kid may not know what he's doing, that doesn't change the fact that someone is likely to get hurt.

And maybe Paul was right about him being too soft.

"Y'know, if you don't give your trainer a reason to get out of here soon, he's gonna get himself caught and sent to jail."

"Ah!" the zorua flinches, baring its fangs in the general direction it seems to think it heard Ash from. Ash might've even been intimidated. ―If it weren't for the simple fact that he's stuck in a cage as far out of reach as he can get without being able to move and that the zorua is facing the entirely wrong direction.

In the end, the only thing the poor creature manages to do is make Ash laugh.

"What's so funny?" the boy asks the air, because he's apparently just as inept as his pokémon at tracking sound. N has an excuse the zorua doesn't of course, but it's still funny to watch them both spin around in circles trying to figure out where he is.

"Uh… up here?" Ash finally offers, feeling at least some pity for the two. They kind of remind him of Jessie and James if he's honest with himself. He doesn't miss them, not like he's been missing Pikachu and the rest of his pokémon and friends for the last few hours. They weren't always terrible though.

"Oh! N, up there!" the zorua points out when it finally manages to figure out what "up" means, tail wagging a mile-a-minute and eyes sparkling in a way that Ash immediately equates to a growlithe, or Pikachu when he's being offered ketchup. "See that? That's an―!"

"That isn't right." the boy says, and the sudden amount of venom Ash can hear in his tone is startling. Ash gets a good look at N's face before he disappears in the blind spot just beneath the opening, and he looks absolutely _furious_.

"Uh…" Ash hedges, unsure how to respond to the open contempt the boy now displays. He'd been somewhat… _calm? Collected?_ ―Ash hesitates to use the word oblivious. N clearly knew that he was doing something wrong by entering the lab. For all their mistakes and near misses, Ash would not describe the pair as unaware of their surroundings or actions.

But now? Now N is intense.

"Pokémon shouldn't be kept in cages like this! They're just as bad as pokéballs!"

"N, you need to calm down! You're going to get us caught!"

"You're both going to get yourself caught if you don't stop yelling like that." Ash reminds the zorua. In the state he's currently in, he can't talk to humans ―for all intense and purposes, he _is_ a pokémon. Unless N is special like Anabel, he's not going to understand a word Ash says beyond the species name and maybe a change of tone or two.

"But Zorua―!" N stops himself, and Ash can hear the boy huff somewhere not very far below where his cage is set.

He's not entirely certain what he's expecting the other to do, but picking up his cage and setting it down on the table definitely wasn't it. "No, like Ghetsis says, if I want the world to change I must start with myself first!"

"N…"

"It's alright," N smiles at his pokémon then, trying for soothing though it doesn't come across quite right from what Ash can tell. "I'm not Ghetsis, I know. I can't… humans aren't pokémon, I can't reach them like I can you guys. Maybe someday, but…."

For a moment, N looks really… lost. Like he doesn't know where he is or what he's doing anymore. And Ash knows what that feels like even more now.

"You okay?" He asks without really thinking about it. N won't understand him, he knows, but intent and sentiment usually make up for a lot of the gaps in his experience.

"I'm fine, and I'll be even better once you're out of that cage!" N says, and goes about wriggling the lock on the front loose.

* * *

"So why were you in a cage, and what's up with that thingy attached to your arm?" Zorua asks him later, as Ash lays on the table and refuses to move despite N's insistence.

He's not a cautious person, normally. Ask any of his previous traveling companions, or literally anyone who's met and spent a day in his company, and they'll tell you just as much. But Ash knows better than to move around when there's anything foreign in your body. Especially when it's attached to a vein.

"It's an IV or an Intra—something-something-something…" Ash flounders, unsure how to explain it. He knows what it does, understands what it's for even, but he's no doctor. That's Brock's thing now. "I don't remember what that stands for, but it's so doctors and nurses can make sure their patients get the nutrients and fluids they need."

He can't help but to preen a little when he sees the starstruck expression on Zorua's face. So few of his friends had looked at him like that. Too busy running behind him trying to save him from his own recklessness to be anything other than fondly exasperated at best, but to Ash that just meant they cared enough to worry.

Being looked on like he's done something amazing feels good, though he tries not to let it get to his head too much.

"Intravenous therapy," N drops in finally, hands full with a first-aid kit he'd procured from Arceus only knows where. "You've seen it before, Zorua. The medics in Team Plasma use them for some of the pokémon we rescue."

"Oh yeah!" Zorua cheers, just plain happy to have N's attention it seems.

Ash smiles, reminded of his own pokémon for a few brief moments, but then… "Wait a minute. How'd you know that?!"

He's not talking about the information itself. Anyone could figure that out for themselves if they just dug around long enough. But N had said that like he understood what Ash and Zorua had been saying.

"I know a few doctors, and I guess reading books doesn't hurt…"

"No, no!" Ash cuts off, taking the opportunity N gives him when he removes the needle in his… paw, to stand up properly. It's not at all easy trying to find his balance when he's used to walking on two legs ―instint and habit almost have him falling backward when he tries to stand on his hind legs. But he manages it, eventually. "—I mean the… the…"

Ash flounders, finding himself suddenly unable to explain what he means. It's not usually this hard, but then again he's only ever encountered a situation like this one other time.

"Oh!" Zorua cuts in from the side suddenly. The fox turns, weirdly excited before finally bouncing forward to brush along his uninjured side. "You mean how N can understand you, right?"

Ash nods, thankful for the assistance, even if he kind of would like his personal space back. He's not used to this body, kind of doesn't _want_ to be, but he also doesn't want to get knocked over simply because a new friend got too excited. "Yeah, that!"

"Oh, that's because—!"

"That's because N is amazing! He and I grew up together, like brothers! —N always been special like that, no doubt about it and… Ghetsis said N is gonna be a hero."

"Not yet," N hedges, suddenly shy when faced with Zorua's many praises. It's a little cute, Ash finds, but he's more curious about Ghetsis.

That's the second time he's been brought up, and while N seems to think he's a man of respect, Ash gets the impression that Zorua would much rather the man take a long walk off a very high cliff. "Who's Ghetsis?"

"The Great Sage Ghetsis, leader of the Seven Great Sages of Team Plasma and one of my advisors," N explains, kind smile suddenly very strained. "With his help, I am going to become king and save pokémon from the burden humans place on them."

It's at that exact moment Ash realizes he's actually completely lost. Maybe it's how N phrased it, but Ash can't seem to wrap his head around that last bit. "Wait, so you want to separate humans from pokémon?"

"Yes."

"Why?" he asks, unsure if he likes what he's hearing. A king isn't an entirely foreign concept to Ash, for all that his only memories of one are marred with nightmare images and twisting shadows. It's the saving pokémon from humans bit he seems to be having trouble with.

And Ash isn't sure he likes what he's hearing.

"Because humans hurt pokémon. They run around, enslaving them in pokéballs, forcing them to fight!" N says, increasingly loud until Ash reminds him that as late as it is, there's still a chance of someone hearing him.

And it _is_ late.

Ash hadn't originally been sure what the time was, but looking at the one digital clock in the room reveals that they're very lucky in regards to the pair's own timing. It's somewhere slightly before three in the morning, and while Ash remembers Prof. Oak keeping strange hours, the owner of this lab is unlikely to come in for at least another hour and a half.

But only so long as N and Zorua both remember volume control.

 _Misty would die of laughter if she could hear me right now._

"Have you met them?" Ash asks then, and N goes surprisingly still.

"What?"

"Have you met them?"

"I'm not sure—!" Ash sighs, testing his footing and seeing what he can do with this new body.

An unintended twitch of a leg reveals that his side still aches a little, but it's much better than earlier. And he's slowly starting to figure out how to compensate for the tail, or maybe use his new tail to compensate for his own clumsiness. He's… getting used to it, slowly but surely. So he's not afraid when he takes the opportunity to hop into N's arms. He's small, the boy can take a little additional weight if it means Ash gets his full attention for what he's about to say next.

"You haven't met them, have you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Ash admonishes, as gently as he can. "I haven't met them either."

"Met who?" Zorua asks, and Ash turns to smile down at the dark-type.

"Other humans, other pokémon. Other humans and _their_ pokémon."

"Oh," N says, like he finally gets what Ash has been talking about. And maybe it has finally clicked in the other's head. But Ash isn't quite done yet.

"You said you were going to be crowned a king, right?" N nods, "And I'm assuming you've never left… wherever this place is?"

"Unova," N tells him, allowing him to jump back down to the table. "We're in Unova, you didn't know?"

No, Ash hadn't, but now he does. It doesn't matter. "How is a king supposed to lead when he knows so little?"

"Ah…" and Ash gets to see the exact moment it all clicks in N's head. Or rather, Ash really hopes that's what that expression is.

"You can't say for sure that everyone is the same if you haven't met _everyone_. And you can't lead people when you yourself don't really know what you're doing." Ash says, trying not to slip across the metal and ruin the atmosphere. "Having advisors is good and all, but they can't do everything for you."

" _So what do you think we should do?"_


	3. Blooming Plans

_**Blooming Plans**_

* * *

" _You called, Ghetsis?" N asks, wringing hands twisted into the hem of a white shirt and much smaller than he remembers them being._

 _The older man stands proud and tall ―the picture of royal dignity and pride against a backdrop of stained-glass and filtered sunlight. Anyone else who might see the picture might call the man beautiful. Certainly more worthy of a crown than N could ever hope to be. But in that exact moment, all N can feel is fear._

" _N," the man says, looking down on him in a way N has never been strictly comfortable with. It's the same way the man looks at the others when he thinks no one is looking. The same way he looks at the people who live outside the castle. "Someday you will be grown, old enough to make decisions with enough power to change the world!"_

" _Yes, sir."_

" _You must remember what your goals are, what Team Plasma and its people stand for!"_

" _Yes, sir."_

" _Never forget the burden that humanity places on the world."_

" _Of course, sir."_

" _N―"_

* * *

"Who are you and what are you doing in my lab?" The Shadow Triad had taught him as much as they thought they could get away with under Ghetsis' nose when it came to self-defense. N remembers the lessons; the candle-lit hours spent late at night while one of them drilled him in the weak spots to go for when being held from behind. How to twist himself in such a way that he could use another person's weight against them, or wriggle out of a chokehold. The triplets hadn't been satisfied until they were certain N could do it in his sleep when properly provoked.

All of it goes flying out of his head the instant Prof. Juniper gets her hands on him.

"Arceus above, when is the last time you ate?!" the older woman questions, amidst a string of others that fly over N's head so fast he can't catch but a few syllables amidst it all. "And these clothes!" she complains in a brief moment of verbal clarity for N that lasts just long enough for the eevee he'd befriended last night to take one look at his expression and then collapse in a heap of laughing, brown fur.

N has half-a-mind to tell the normal-type where he can stick his amusement, but then Zorua joins their new friend in taking enjoyment out of his pain and suffering. He realizes that he has been betrayed.

" _N,"_ Zorua gasps from where he currently lays, sprawled across the clean tiles in a heaving mass of black and red fur. _"Your_ _ **face**_ _!"_

"The least you could do is stop laughing long enough to _help_." N pleads at the exact same time the woman tells him to hush and then shoves him into what turns out to be a bathroom.

For a brief moment, he feels lost amidst the clean, white tiles of the floor and the room's sparkling, pink walls. And it must show on his face, because Prof. Juniper takes one look at him and gives him the second-most reassuring smile he has ever seen on a human being.

"Get yourself washed up," she instructs gently, motioning to the bathtub behind him. "I'll see what I can scrounge up clothing wise, and make sure these two troublemakers are fed and healthy."

"But—!" N dares to object, utterly baffled by the woman's sudden change from anger at an intruder to mother-henning him at a level that makes Concordia look utterly docile by comparison.

"No buts," the researcher interrupts in a tone that N is not nearly brave enough to argue with. "We'll talk when you're done. But until then, just worry about getting yourself cleaned up, okay?"

For a brief moment, N thinks of Ghetsis; his heavy-handed fury while his sisters were forced to sit back and watch. Of the Shadow Triad, who even as N speaks with this woman are likely being punished severely for losing track of him and Zorua so easily. He thinks of Anthea and Concordia, who must be beside themselves with worry over his well-being.

He thinks of them, and so many more who are waiting for him back at the castle. He _should_ be going to them right now, not standing here in the bathroom of a woman who stands as the complete antithesis to everything he himself stands for.

And then he makes a mistake.

He looks at the eevee he met by sheer accident last night and remembers what the normal-type had said to him, staring him down with eyes a lot older than the few years N would've guessed made his age. Arceus, he doesn't even know if his new friend has a name.

"— _You can't lead people when you yourself don't really know what you're doing…"_

"I―Okay." N concedes. He dares to look at the window, just big enough for him to fit through, and tries very hard to ignore the cold, empty pit opening in the base of his stomach when he instead begins pulling off his own clothes as the door clicks shut.

He's doing this so that he can better help Team Plasma, he reminds himself.

 _So then why do I feel like I'm betraying everyone I love?_

* * *

Try as he might, the feeling doesn't quite go away.

And N does try. He wastes a whole hour of time standing in the bathroom, staring into the mirror and completely ignoring the existence of the window to his right. It's a feat of concentration that Ghetsis would be proud of.

It doesn't quite stop N from completely freaking out.

"What am I doing?" he asks his reflection There's no response, of course. He's talking to a bathroom mirror at six in the morning, functioning off of maybe an hour of sleep at most. The bags under his eyes have bags, and it's such a harsh thing for him to realize that N almost breaks the mirror on principle alone.

He is going to be a king, Reshiram's Hero of Truth ―he doesn't have the time to be tired.

"Hey Kid, you okay in there?" Prof. Juniper rattles the doorknob. She sounds worried.

"I'm fine."

"I've got a change of clothes for when you're ready. —I'll leave 'em on the table next to the door."

"Yes, ma'am," N says after a beat of silence. There's a faint sound, like someone laughing from the other side of the door, and N has to stop himself from sighing in relief. Ever since Prof. Juniper had found him earlier, he'd been… _off_. Like he was doing something not quite right. It's nice to know that he hasn't messed anything else up.

" _You fool boy, what are you doing making friends with the enemy?!"_

N shakes his head, opening the door just enough to reach out and grab the clothes before shutting it again. A part of him hopes that Zorua is okay with the professor. The rest of him is… off.

"Oh good, I was beginning to think you'd drowned in the bathtub or something."

N blinks, eyes wide as he tries to wrap his head around that string of utter nonsense. _Why in the world would I have drowned in the bathtub? It's not that much water…_

"Ah…"

"Sit down, I made breakfast. ―Can't promise it's very good though."

"That's… okay." N says, trying to go for reassuring and falling tragically flat. He's never been very good at talking with anything that's not a pokémon. Humans are so much more complicated. "It can't be worse than Anthea."

Anthea's cooking had peeled paint off the castle walls and sent pokémon to the ER. She wasn't allowed in the kitchens for obvious reasons.

"I see," Prof. Juniper says, and doesn't push for more information even as she watches N take a seat. Instead, she sets a plate in front of him ―stacked with enough pancakes to give a two-year-old diabetes and so much bacon N worries for the state of his heart and arteries. "Don't worry, the bacon's tofu." the woman assures when she catches whatever expression N must be making at the sheer amount of food she's giving to him. As if _that's_ somehow his problem.

"No, no… I… I just wasn't expecting this much food."

Something about his response makes the woman sad. He's seen that expression on both of his sisters. "Um… where's Zorua and Eevee?"

As if called upon by the sound of their names, Zorua comes barreling into the kitchen then, sliding gracelessly across the tiled flooring when he tries to make a sharp turn and crashing into a cupboard when he fails to gain his footing fast enough. Prof. Juniper laughs at the sight, utterly helpless to do anything but pick the scrambling dark-type up before he can hurt himself any further.

She gives him a scratch behind the ears and Zorua starts purring like a lawnmower, all but melting in the woman's hands. "Your friend is certainly energetic."

"He is." N agrees through his own soft chuckles. Prof. Juniper drops Zorua into his lap, motioning for him to start eating while she goes to fix herself a plate of her own. "I don't see Eevee though…"

"Resting," she tells him as she sits down across from him, picking up a strip of bacon and taking a bite. "He was pretty banged up when he was brought to me ―not to mention the fit he had yesterday. I just want to make sure he's as healed as he's going to get before I let him run around the lab for any length of time."

 _A fit?_ N remembers the state of the lab last night; papers scattered everywhere and what looked like a pile of broken furniture in the back of the room.

He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now… "What happened?"

"Far as I can tell, he panicked. Must've thought he was in danger or something."

"Oh…" N would've liked to talk to that eevee a little more before he left but…

"Now, to talk about what you were doing in my lab." For a brief moment, N finds himself panicking. His body tenses up so suddenly and quickly he finds it almost hurts. He's about to run ―anywhere but here in front of this woman would be best. But she pins him to his seat with a glance before he can even think to try. "I'm not mad," she says, and N is convinced she's lying.

How could she not be mad? She found him in her lab, handling a rare pokémon placed under her care. Anyone else would be _furious_.

"I'm not _mad_." N finally looks up at the change in tone. He looks into pale blue eyes, just a few shades off of being green, and… he believes her.

Prof. Juniper smiles at him like he hasn't done anything wrong. When N knows he _has_. If this were Ghetsis, N would be in his room with his sisters, lying in bed while Concordia and Anthea tried to bandage his wounds and soothe his tears.

But she only smiles at him.

"I'm not saying what you did wasn't bad," she tells him ―his confusion must show on his face. "It _was_ , but I'm not mad. Things happen."

Prof. Juniper says that last part like she would know. Like she's had experience walking on the wrong side of the tracks. And maybe she has. N isn't sure he wants to ask.

"I… I was trying to find something."

"What?"

N has to swallow, one hand buried into the thicker fur around Zorua's neck. He shouldn't be telling this woman anything. "Information… on pokéballs."

"Curiosity or…?"

"I wanted to see how they work and why…"

"I see." N doesn't think she actually does. There's no way that this woman who spent her entire life studying pokémon can grasp the full scope of N's many questions when it comes to the pokémon league and their system.

N realizes just how stupid that sounds after he's already had the thought. Maybe Anthea is right about something. "What's your name?"

"N."

"Well N, under normal circumstances, I'd probably report you to the police. ―And call your parents," she tells him as she pushes herself out of her seat. She hasn't finished the food on her plate, but N realizes why when she simply pushes the syrupy mess in front of Zorua. "But we both know these aren't normal circumstances."

"Yes." he agrees, probably looking as solemn as he sounds without actually meaning to do either.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"I―" N stops, caught out in a way he hasn't been since he first met Ghetsis. No.

That's not right. It happened last night too. When N was talking to the eevee.

" _What do you think we should do?"_ Zorua had asked, sounding strangely hopeful when faced with a pokémon challenging everything Ghetsis had taught them.

"Can I ask you something?" For a brief moment, Prof. Juniper is the one who is surprised instead of N. It's a somewhat pleasant feeling because N is getting tired of being taken by surprise everywhere he turns.

"Sure."

"What…" N fumbles unsure of how to phrase it so that he gets his point across as clearly as possible. It's so easy for him to mix up his words around humans. He doesn't want to confuse the woman. "If you wanted to learn more about the world, no…"

For a brief moment, N wants to scream in frustration. He's only been talking for a few seconds and already he's messing it all up.

"Hey, take your time. We've got all day." Except they don't. It's only a matter of time until the Shadow Triad figure out where he ran off to. They'll come to drag him back to the castle and N won't ever be able to have this conversation again.

"I need to learn more about the world, about the people and the pokémon that live in it. But I've only ever lived in one place. This is the farthest I've ever been from home so…"

"How old are you?" Prof. Juniper asks him, and he's… surprised, once again, because Prof. Juniper is very, very good at surprising him.

"Thirteen."

Twelve actually. Concordia says his birthday is next month, but N figures he's close enough that it doesn't make much difference.

"Well, you're certainly old enough then."

The professor doesn't explain much more though, simply leaving the room with an idle order for N to "finish his breakfast and then come find her."

He's not entirely certain what he's gotten himself into. There is still that niggling sense in the back of his mind that he's doing something _wrong_. But Zorua doesn't give him the time he needs to chicken out.

"C'mon, N!" Zorua barks at him, eyes shining in a way N hasn't seen for a very long time. "The pancakes are good! And that bacon smells delicious!"

"Zorua, you can't eat tofu bacon. You'll make yourself sick."

"Then hurry up and eat before _I_ take it all!"


	4. I Want to See You be Brave

_**I Want to See You be Brave~**_

* * *

"Will you come with me?" N asks a whole three days later. And Ash has to try very, very hard to not laugh in the boy's face.

Not that he's against going along.

Eevee or no, Ash is always willing to travel. It's one of the things he loves best about his pokémon journey, second only to meeting new people and pokémon. But the longer Ash takes pretending to think the whole thing over the more N starts to resemble a stantler caught in headlights. And that expression is fucking _hilarious._

A particularly cruel part of Ash wants to take a picture and frame it on the wall so he and Prof. Juniper can pick on the poor boy about it later. But another part of him convinces him to think better of it.

Nevermind that Ash probably wouldn't be able to manage such a feat by himself, anyway.

Beyond the new, keener sense of smell or sharper hearing, a strange instinct that Ash knows for a fact he didn't have before is starting to rear its head. And it drives him to sit just a little bit closer to N than he normally would. To get into tiny fights with Zorua over who gets to sit on the boy's shoulders ― _both of you either learn to share or neither gets to sit there!_

Ash isn't entirely sure what to do about it either. He's too afraid of the questions Zorua and N might ask if he brings it up with either of them. And he doesn't want to even begin to think of how he's going to explain his predicament to the two. But he also can't _stay_ an eevee forever.

It's not the first time Ash has been unexpectedly transformed into a pokémon, after all. Just the longest lasting and most thorough. It doesn't mean he's stuck this way for the rest of his life. He just has to find someone out there who can help him fix it. And maybe get some answers while he's at it.

But he's not accomplishing either task anytime soon by sitting in Prof. Juniper's lab and twiddling his non-existent thumbs.

Going with N on his journey will be fun. But it might also be killing two pidgeys with one stone. _Take that, Misty!_

"―vee? Hey, Eevee!"

"My name's not 'Eevee.'" Ash complains without thought, blinking at N stupidly for a full minute before he finally shakes his head enough to focus properly. "It's Ash."

"Oh," N chirps. And Ash won't say that he sounds surprised, but Ash can see something like disappointment coloring the very edges of his expression.

"What?"

"It's just… well, I thought you might be a trainer's pokémon. And…" N trails off, pointedly staring at the nearest wall and refusing to look Ash in the eye. It irritates him a little, and he decides to show it by biting the hand N had been using to pet him. "―OW!"

"I'm wild," Ash tells him, silencing whatever complaint N might have over being bitten.

It's not a lie. As far as Ash knows, the closest he's been to a pokéball in this state is when he walked between Misty and Brock as a pikachu. And while Prof. Juniper had said he'd been brought to the lab by someone else, it doesn't sound like he'd been carried here in a pokéball.

"Oh, so that means―?"

"I would've gone with you regardless," Ash assures and takes the opportunity to leap onto N's shoulder. "Now let's go!"

* * *

"Are you sure you have everything you need?"

"Yes."

"Spare change of clothes?"

"Yes."

"Food?"

"Yes."

"Money?"

"Yes."

"Pokéballs?"

"Yes."

"Clean underwear?"

" _Hahahaha!"_

"Traitor."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now you said you wanted to go to a place outside of Unova. Which can be tricky when you're dealing with newly registered trainers, but I managed to pull some strings… ―hey."

N blinks, finally meeting Prof. Juniper's gaze. He has Zorua tucked into the hood of the black poncho Prof. Juniper gave him to wear, and he's holding Ash in his arms. He won't admit to praying that the researcher doesn't suddenly change her mind and forbid him from taking the eevee with him.

While he's absolutely sure he and Zorua will be fine, he knows he'd feel much better if he had Ash with him. And yes, maybe he can admit to himself at least that he's afraid the Shadow Triad will find him before he can even set foot out of town.

It must show on his face.

"It's going to be okay. You're going to take this ticket, board a plane headed for Alola ―a friend of mine is going to meet you there, and she's going to help you get yourself standing on your own two feet."

N doesn't know why, but he's crying now. Ugly tears and snot and everything. And he can't see through all the water in his eyes, but Prof. Juniper drags him into a hug, shushing and humming and everything that both of his sisters had tried and failed at when they'd been younger. "Make sure you call me when you get there. My friend's name is Burnet. She'll take good care of you while you're with her."

What N says to that is the only thing he can think of in that exact moment. "Thank you."

"Now let's get you on that plane."


	5. A Crown Sits Heavily on Your Head

_These four walls cannot hide every one of your sins._

* * *

 _ **A Crown Sits Heavily on Your Head**_

* * *

N should've told someone he was leaving. He normally does. It's what makes him so _easy_ to take care of when it's Ao's turn to watch. He always tells someone when he leaves the castle grounds, even if it's for something as mundane as getting a closer look at the flowers in the garden.

N has always told someone when he was leaving the castle.

"Ao!" He hears Concordia's voice echo through the empty halls, but it's Anthea he sees first. Both look utterly frantic.

"We can't find N!"

"Have you checked his room?" he asks, not quite ready to give in to the same panic that's overtaken the twins. With the state N leaves his room in, it's entirely possible that they simply _missed_ him amongst the mess. The boy doesn't always remember to respond when people call him.

"That's the first place we checked, Ao!" Concordia snaps, and it takes far more willpower to not sigh in exasperation then he's willing to admit to aloud. "He's. Not. _There!_ "

"Lady Concordia," Ao says, watching out the corner of his eye as a handful of grunts shuffle won't look him in the eye, and by proximity, Anthea and Concordia both go largely ignored. He prefers it that way. "Remember last month?"

Both of them blush tamato berry red. They had the whole castle up in arms, furious that someone had kidnapped their future king. Low and behold not even an hour into the search when N had come meandering out of his room, clueless to why there was so much chaos when he'd simply been napping in the mountain of plush toys Ghetsis had bought the boy. The Great Sage had been _furious_.

"We checked the toys, behind the skating ramp. _Everywhere_!" Anthea says, something like a plea for mercy in her voice. She just barely keeps herself from walking right into his space, and this close he can see the tears beginning to pool in the corner of her eyes.

"We even got some of the pokémon to help!"

"―Nothing!" Ao breathes in through his nose, holds it for a few seconds, and then lets it go.

"I'll talk with the others and see what we can find." He offers at length, and it takes everything in him not to simply disappear when both girls tackle him. "You'd better hope we find him before Ghetsis finds out you two lost him again."

It's not a threat. Ao owes Ghetsis much, they all do. But he is not so blind in his loyalty that he does not see how twisted the man actually is. He may have been kind enough to take in six orphans with no one to turn to and nowhere to go, but it wasn't out of the kindness of Ghetsis' heart. Ao doesn't think Ghetsis has a heart.

No, what gives that man life and keeps him so persistently breathing is greed. Human greed and human cruelty. The twins and N are just victims in the grand scheme of things, puppets that are easier to follow than a coward with a monster hiding behind his eyes.

And in his anger, Ghetsis holds nothing back.

"We know, thank you!"

They never should've thanked him.

* * *

"Today is a dark day for we humble servants of Team Plasma!"

It's a gorgeous speech ―filled with nothing but pretty words and half-lies bolstered by overbearing dramatics. Ghetsis panders to the masses and they eat it up. Ao would be impressed if he were listening. He's not paying attention though. He's cataloging the new injuries the twins have failed to hide before the meeting.

"Brother?" Nemu questions to his right, leaning out just enough to be seen without actually leaving his position.

"Any news?" he asks, for want of anything else he could say. Things are already bad. And unlike Ghetsis, Ao does not have an entire speech ready to soothe the minds of his brothers. He's not nearly so good at lying.

"Nothing," Sho says from his left and Ao can track the exact line that the shorter traces over the heads of the grunts. He's not checking for danger though. Chaotic as everything is, the castle moves. Ao doesn't think there's a safer place in the world. "Though further examination of N's room shows that he may have climbed out the window."

"Zorua must've helped him then." Arceus knows N would've broken something otherwise. And then they would be dealing with an entirely different set of problems altogether. "The question is then; where would he go?"

"I'm not―!"

"—Rise, Anthea!" Ghetsis calls, louder than he'd previously been. For a second, Ao thinks he's gotten himself and his brothers in more trouble…

―But no. Ghetsis' eyes are firmly planted on the crowd below him.

Ao watches Anthea sweep through the crowd, every inch the goddess she was going to be if only they hadn't lost N. Concordia follows only a few steps behind, but is stopped by one of the other sages and pulled to the side. Ao doesn't think she's ever looked lonelier.

"On this day, we have lost much," Ghetsis says, and it drags Ao's attention right back to where Anthea now kneels before the older man. She's not looking him in the eyes, which is all the better with Ghetsis' temper being so mercurial. "Our future king is lost to us, but still there is hope! ―Anthea, brave soul, do you swear to continue your brother's work? To become a hero worthy of the great Reshiram and free all pokémon?"

"Yes, I swear on both my own name and everything my brother stood for that I will see the liberation of pokémon through as Reshiram's Hero of Truth!"

Ao tries desperately to see Ghetsis' answering grin as anything other than terrifyingly sickening.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Young souls of Team Plasma! I give you your new queen!"

For all her posturing amidst the cheers of the crowd, N's crown sits poorly on Anthea's head. And Ao swears by the sight that he will fix this.

"Come," he barks to his brothers, "We are not required to stay any longer. And we have better things to do."

"Do you think we'll find N?" Nemu asks as he follows, Sho not much farther behind him.

He sees Anthea standing before a crowd of mareep, her brother's crown sitting slightly askew on her head. He remembers Concordia, lost and forgotten and alone. Forced to grieve for a brother who _isn't dead yet_ by herself. He can see N's room, a prison wearing the guise of a child's playroom…

"We don't have a choice."


End file.
